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Rape Victim Gets Day In Court and Senate

Former Haliburton/KBR employer talks about gang rape in Iraq

Jamie Leigh Jones went to Iraq to serve her country and work her way up the corporate ladder at Haliburton/KBR. Instead, on the evening of July 28, 2005 at Camp Hope, Baghdad, Iraq, the 20-year-old was drugged and gang-raped by her co-workers.

When she went to report the incident and sought medical care, Jones was detained in a shipping container for at least 24 hours without food, water, or a bed, and warned that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she'd be out of a job.

Jones convinced one of her guards to give her a cell phone. She called her father, who in turn contacted Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX). The State Department dispatched agents from the U.S. Embassy and removed Jones from KBR custody.

Jones was prevented from bringing charges in court against KBR because her employment contract stipulated that sexual assault allegations would only be heard in private arbitration. The United States Department of Justice brought no criminal charges against the alleged assailants.

SENATOR STEPS UP

Last month, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) proposed an amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill that would withhold defense contracts from companies like KBR "if they restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court."

From the Senate floor, Franken used Jones as a reason for this bill, "Today defense contractors are using fine print in their contracts do deny women like Jamie Leigh Jones their day in court. The victims of rape and discrimination deserve their day in court [and] Congress plainly has the constitutional power to make that happen."

Franken's amendment passed by a 68-30 vote, earning the support of 10 Republican senators. Both of Florida's senators, George LeMieux (Rep.) and Bill Nelson (Dem.) voted for the amendment. Senators Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions of Alabama were among the 30 Republicans who voted against it.

VICTIM  SPEAKS TO IN

In May 2008, I interviewed Jones on my radio show, "IN Your Head Radio." She spoke openly about the gang rape and the days that followed.

Jones was working for Haliburton/KBR as an information technology technician when she was given an opportunity to work in Iraq.

"I took the job to further my career and to help my mother who was sick back at home," said Jones. "I'm also very patriotic and wanted to go over to Iraq and support Operation Iraqi Freedom."

Jones was told that she would be housed in a trailer with another female. Instead, she found her housing arrangement wasn't as promised.

"When I arrived, I was placed in a predominately all male barrack."  The barrack housed about 450 employees and the roster stated that 20 women lived there.

"I never saw another female housed in that barrack," Jones said.

On the night of the gang rape, Jones remembered socializing with her co-workers after work and someone giving her a drink. The next morning she awoke and realized that she had been raped. She was naked and severely bruised, with lacerations to her vagina and anus, blood running down her leg, her breast implants ruptured, and her pectoral muscles torn.

"The last thing I remember is taking a sip from that drink."

The next 24 hours were bizarre. She went to the Haliburton/KBR clinic and was then sent to the military hospital. Then she was placed in a storage unit without food or water under two Nepalese guards.

"Instead of imprisoning the victim, they should have imprisoned the rapists," Jones said. "I begged and pleaded with my guards to let me use a cell phone, which they finally did after being held for about 24 hours."

NO JUSTICE

When the State Department rescued Jones, her employer, Haliburton/KBR only gave her two alternatives.

"I could go home with no promise of work or I could stay in Iraq and work. Basically, if I went home I was fired."

Jones did go home and had to have reconstructive surgery. After it become clear no criminal charges would be filed against her rapists, Jones filed a civil suit against her former employer.

When she filed the suit in May 2007, KBR requested a private arbitration.

"The only avenue I had was to file a civil suit," Jones said. "However when I filed my civil suit, I found my employment agreement had an arbitration clause, just a coulpe sentences, and that arbitration clause was to prevent me suing Haliburton/KBR."

On Sept. 15, 2009 the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled Jamie Leigh Jones' federal lawsuit against KBR and several affiliates can be tried in open court.

HELPING OTHER VICTIMS

At the time of the radio interview, Jones said she felt that rapes were still happening in Iraq.

"I was not an isolated incident," Jones said. "I get calls from women that have been assaulted recently (in Iraq) and are trying to get through this whole process."

Jones has established The Jamie Leigh Jones Foundation to help these women who are victims of crime while working abroad for government contractors and subcontractors.

The young woman who is now 24-years-old and married to a former naval officer, Joseph Daigle.

Appearing with Sen. Franken after the vote, Jones told reporters about the significance of the amendment's passage, "It means that every tear shed to go public and repeat my story over and over again to make a difference for other women was worth it."

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